Inside Geneva: who controls landmines and drones?

On Inside Geneva, we are discussing weapons contamination and the harm it causes. “We have at least one casualty every single day in Afghanistan – someone killed or injured –and it is most likely a child,” says Nick Pond, the Chief of Mine Action Section in the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA). From old conflicts to new. “Ukraine is the breadbasket of Europe and billions of square metres of land are suspected to be contaminated, which means the land can’t be farmed,” says Paul Heslop, from the UN Mine Action, Ukraine. And from old weapons to new. “This is proliferating well beyond Ukraine. Ukraine and Russia are the two leaders in drone technology, but the level of proliferation is scary,” says Sean Moorhouse, technical adviser for mine action, at the UN Development Programme. In response to Russian aggression, the Baltic states are pulling out of the Mine Ban Treaty. “We did not say yes to landmines; we said no to unilateral disarmament constructs,” says ...